Position Matters

In poker, information is power. Acting later gives you more information, making position one of the strongest advantages at the table.

Absolutely. Position is one of those things you don't fully appreciate until you start paying attention to it. Having more information before you act makes so many decisions easier and saves you from a lot of costly mistakes.

I completely agree—position is one of the biggest advantages in poker.

Acting last gives you valuable information about your opponents' actions before making your decision.
You can control the pot size better, value bet thinner, bluff more effectively, and avoid costly mistakes.
That's why strong players open wider from late position and play much tighter from early position.

Over the long run, simply making better use of position can have a huge impact on your win rate.

Position can be massive. Most people know that position is an advantage but few know just how big of an advantage it can be. When I play against fish I absolutely abuse position.

That's what everyone is taught and to some degree it can hold slightly true, dependent on table dynamics and properly timed aggression trumps position.

Joujou113 said:

In poker, information is power. Acting later gives you more information, making position one of the strongest advantages at the table.

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Do you have any advice on how to use this advantage?

Huntre said:

Do you have any advice on how to use this advantage?

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We have the advantage of seeing your opponent's actions before you act post-flop. Therefore we can afford to play a wider range of hands. When we are out of position we have to make up for the disadvantage by only playing stronger hands.

It is much harder to bet size out of position and build pots when strong. Often leading the flop out of position when strong folds out too much value so we usually have to check when strong and if Villain checks back we lose a street of value. Also, betting large out of position to price out draws is risky. In position, we can bet small for value and get calls or bet larger to price out draws with much less risk, or simply just float.

Simply c-betting flops with our entire range when checked to in position with 60-80% frequency can take down a lot of pots even when we whiff the board hard.

Here is an example.

We have A7s (hearts) UtG. We open 3x and get called by the button. Flop is KT4 with 2 diamonds, no heart. Our best move here is to just check-fold to a c-bet and give up. This is why A7s is generally not considered in an early position open range. We are playing out of range here and got ourselves into trouble. And this flop is very normal and common that we will see. We will get ourselves into trouble very often by opening (a hand like) A7s out of position. All we have here is an overcard. We are very weak.

Now, same A7s (hearts) but from the BT this time. 2 limpers and we open 3x. One limper calls. Same flop KT4 with 2 diamonds and no heart.

spot #1: Villain checks. We can simply c-bet this for 40-60% pot (I usually use about 40% myself) and it is highly likely that Villain folds right here and we win with NOTHING (haha!).

Spot #2: Same flop, Villain donks min. We can simply fold, or since it's such a small bet we can call this because it is very likely a blocker (draw) or a feeler and we can call/float to play the turn. Then if Villain checks the turn is very likely that it was just a feeler and now he's ready to give up, especially if the turn card does not help any draws. We can bet the turn half-pot-ish and he will very likely fold. If Villain continues on the turn we can decide to fold or call depending on the board and Villain's tendencies (poker sense).

Spot #3: Villain donks large. We have an easy fold and Villain can't get paid.

So we can see here that there are just so many more options for us when we are in position than when we are out of position.

And these examples are only WHIFFED flops! Just think of what we can do if we actually HIT. $ $ $ $ cha-ching! cha-ching!

Huntre said:

Do you have any advice on how to use this advantage?

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The biggest advantage of position is controlling the size of the pot. In late position, I play more hands, value bet thinner, and bluff more selectively because I have more information about my opponents' actions.

It matters a great deal; that is why it is important to pay attention to what is happening at the table, even when we aren't playing the hand. Positional hand ranges are very important.